November 26, 2023

Title: EARLY DISCO

Constructor: Kelsey Dixon

Editor: Kelsey Dixon

Theme Answers:

DISCORD SERVERS (20A: Community spaces on a chat platform designed for gamers)

DISCOGRAPHY (35A: List of every Mariah Carey album, for example)

DISCOMBOBULATE (52A: Bewilder and bamboozle)

Theme synopsis: The word DISCO is found EARLY (at the beginning) in each theme answer.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• SLED (5A: Snow day slider) This clue/answer pair is timely, as where I live it snowed overnight. This makes me happy! I'm not sure we got enough snow to use a SLED, but it's enough to stick to the trees and cover the ground, making everything look beautiful.
• GLOSS (9A: ___ Bomb (Fenty Beauty lip product) and RIRI (14A: Fenty Beauty founder, to fans) Fenty Beauty is a cosmetics brand launched by singer Rihanna, known as RIRI to her fans. GLOSS Bomb is just one of Fenty Beauty's products. 
• DISCORD SERVERS (20A: Community spaces on a chat platform designed for gamers) Okay, I laughed when I filled in this answer, because I thought, "Great ... I have to explain what a DISCORD SERVER is!" DISCORD is a social platform that allows users to communicate through text messaging, file sharing, voice calls, and video calls. The platform is arranged into SERVERs, allowing users to create a community of users. My son first introduced me to DISCORD in 2020, in order to coordinate family gaming. I admit that I joined rather reluctantly, not really understanding why I needed yet another social platform in my life. Ironically, I now use DISCORD every day, and am a member of multiple SERVERs. Unsurprisingly, most of the DISCORD SERVERs I am a part of relate to crosswords.
• DISCOGRAPHY (35A: List of every Mariah Carey album, for example) Mariah Carey released her first studio album, Mariah Carey, in 1990. Mariah Carey's complete album DISCOGRAPHY contains 30 albums. 
• SAM (45A: ___ the Eagle (ultra-patriotic Muppet)) SAM the Eagle is a blue bald eagle Muppet known for his patriotism. He has appointed himself as a censor and an advocate of cultural, educational acts on The Muppet Show. Here's a clip of SAM the Eagle that I enjoyed. 
• SON (49A: Bronny James, to Lebron) As I learned earlier this year, Bronny James is the oldest SON of LeBron James.
• DISCOMBOBULATE (52A: Bewilder and bamboozle) DISCOMBOBULATE is a great word, isn't it? For that matter, bewilder and bamboozle are also great words. 
• FANTA (57A: Brand that makes a pina colada-flavored soda) and RUM (22D: Pina colada liquor) Okay, I have questions. Does FANTA Piña Colada really taste like a piña colada? Please report if you know the answer to this! (Kelsey?) And, then, what does FANTA Piña Colada and RUM mixed together taste like?
• WICCA (4D: Religion with covens) WICCA is a religion that was introduced in the 1940s and 1950s. It is an earth-centered religion that is considered a form of modern paganism, influenced by various historical, pre-Christian beliefs. WICCA communities are known as covens.
• LAND (6D: ___ Back (decolonization campaign)) LANDBack is a campaign of Indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada seeking to reestablish Indigenous sovereignty.
• SSN (13D: ID needed for FAFSA) FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. A social security number (SSN) is needed to complete a FAFSA. 
• EDGAR (31D: "Florida Man" star Ramirez) Florida Man is a TV miniseries that premiered on Netflix earlier this year. ÉDGAR Ramirez portrays a former police officer who returns to his home state of Florida.
• AMA (37D: Reddit Q&A sesh) Reddit is an online social site for news aggregation and discussion. AMA stands for "ask me anything," a genre of interactive interviews that are especially popular on Reddit.
• ON MUTE (44D: "Everybody ___" (Beyonce fan challenge)) I have previously written about the Beyoncé fan challenge, "Everybody ON MUTE."
• MOESHA (47D: '90s TV teen played by Brandy Norwood) Perhaps better known by her mononym, Brandy, singer and actor Brandy Norwood portrayed the title character in the TV series MOESHA from 1996-2001. MOESHA was a high school student living with her family in Los Angeles. I first learned about MOESHA from the September 23, 2021 puzzle. 

Geography review:

• INTL (18A: Like many ORD flights) ORD is the International Air Transport Association (IATA) airport code for Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. As the airport's name suggests, some of the flights departing and arriving from ORD are international (INTL). O'Hare serves two to three million passengers a month. There are 47 countries that have flights to and from O'Hare.
• OCEAN (19A: Arctic or Pacific) Of Earth's five OCEANs, the Arctic OCEAN is the smallest, and the Pacific OCEAN is the largest.
• BAHT (32D: Thai currency) Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia. The capital of Thailand is Bangkok, and its currency is the Thai BAHT.
• PALAU (38D: Micronesian country with a full moon on its flag) PALAU is an island country in Micronesia (a subregion of Oceania in the Northwestern Pacific OCEAN). The capital of PALAU is Ngerulmud. The flag of PALAU has a light blue background, representing the ocean, with a golden-yellow disc (that is slightly off-center), representing the moon. 

Today's theme is a fun one, because once you figure it out, you can fill in the first five letters of each theme answer. In addition to the answers I've highlighted above, I also enjoyed DARLINGS, OVER EASY, and BANDANA. Thank you, Kelsey, for this puzzle that was a splendid way to start my Sunday.